The art of laying carpets on the floors of buildings has for many years been accompanied by a considerable amount of tedious and costly labor. This is particularly true of the covering of stairways where a tight fit against the tread and riser is necessary. Basically it is required to maintain a tension of the carpet against the supporting structure while nailing in the holding carpet tacks.
Over the years so-called "tackless fasteners" have been developed in which pointed spikes or pins are pre-embedded in strips which are in turn fastened to the floors or other supporting structures. The carpet is then, while still under tension, hooked over the protruding spikes and thus held in position.
Related art which has been addressed to the problem is listed below:
Sarkissian (U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,895) teaches a specially shaped device requiring substantial labor of construction and installation and does not provide adequate fastening.
White (U.S. Pat. No. 2,750,621) utilizes an elaborate and cumbersome metal plate of complex construction and doubtful effectiveness in holding the carpet. PA1 Rager (U.S. Pat. No. 3,551,939) is simpler but is applicable to metal or concrete stairways and still involves excessive labor of installation.
Particularly troublesome and time consuming is the practice of attaching fastening strips to the risers of the stairways which is awkward and requires the installer to almost stand on his head to apply.
Other complex devices and methods are set forth in reference in Form PTO 1449 accompanying herewith.